Learning Chinese: A Foundation Course in Mandarin
Julian K. Wheatley, 4/07
Unit 9
Xīngxīng zhī huǒ kěyǐ liáo yuán.
[Or, in more compact form: Xīnghuǒ-liáoyuán.]
Spark’s flame can set-fire-to plains.
A single spark can start a prairie fire.
Saying, classical style.
Contents
9.1 More modification
9.2 Clothes
9.3 Bargaining (2)
9.4 Setting the stage: Verb-zhe
9.5 Colors
9.6 Dialogue: buying a seal
9.7 The ba-construction
9.8 Verb Combos (3)
9.9 Dialogue: Peking Duck
9.10 ‘Stand a little closer’
9.11 Destination and goal: V+
dào, zài or gěi
9.12 Wáng Xuéyīng: the story
9.13 Patterns with duì
9.14 Interjections!
9.15 On apologies
9.16 Highlights
9.17 Rhymes and rhythms
Exercise 1
Exercise 2, 3
Exercise 4
Exercise 5, 6
Exercise 7
Exercise 8
Exercise 9
9.1 More modification
As noted earlier, de is typically a mark of modification: zuótiān de bàozhi ‘yesterday’s
newspaper’; zuótiān mǎi de huǒchē piào ‘the train tickets [we] bought yesterday’. Such
modifying phrases serve to pin down a particular item: not any bàozhi but zuótiān de
bàozhi; not any lí but líkāi de lí, ‘the li of likai’. Often, definitions have the same form:
lăoshī:
gōngrén:
xuéshēng:
zài xuéxiào jiāoshū de <rén>.
zài gōngchăng gōngzuò de <rén>.
zài xuéxiào dúshū de <rén>.
English speakers need to pay special attention to de-patterns, since they often show quite
a different order of modifier and modified:
A chef is someone [who cooks in a restaurant].
Chúshī shi [zài fànguǎnr zuòfàn de] rén.
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Learning Chinese: A Foundation Course in Mandarin
Julian K. Wheatley, 4/07
9.1.1 Other vocabulary:
The following vocabulary is needed for exercise 1, below:
wǎng shàng
net on
on the internet
jiāo péngyou
exchange friends
meet friends
gōngjù
work-tool
tool
shèyǐngshī
gànbu
shoot-picture-expert a cadre;
photographer
political-worker
xīnwén bàodǎo
news report
the news
wòfáng
sleep room
bedroom
pāizhào
zhàoxiàng
nóngmín
agric.-people
farmers
zhòngdì
plant-ground
cultivate the soil
zhèngfŭ
fúwù
government
to serve
VO ‘take photos (strike-reflection)’;
VO ‘to take photos (reflect-likeness)’
Wǒ zhào <yí> ge xiàng, hǎo bu hǎo?
Wŏ pāi <yí> ge zhào, hăo bu hăo?
Let me take a photo, okay?
Wŏmen dào Tiān’ānmén Guǎngchǎng
zhàoxiàng qu le.
We went to Tiān’anmen Square to
take some photographs.
Zuótiān wŏmen zài Pǔdōng zhào-le
jǐ zhāng xiàng.
Yesterday, we took some photos
in Pudong [Shanghai].
Exercise 1.
a) Provide items that fit the following definitions:
1. Zhōngguó rén chīfàn de shíhou yòng de gōngjù.
2. Wèi biérén zhàoxiàng de rén.
3. Gěi bìngrén kànbìng de rén.
4. Wèi Zhōngguó rénmín gōngzuò de rén.
b) Provide Chinese definitions based on the characteristics provided:
5. nóngmín:
6. jìzhě:
7. fúwùyuán:
8. wǎngyǒu:
cultivate land
write news reports
serve
friends
in the countryside
[for the sake of] guests
made online
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Learning Chinese: A Foundation Course in Mandarin
Julian K. Wheatley, 4/07
9.1.2 Dialogue: Who’s in the photo?
Máo Dàwéi is with the mother of one of his friends (whom he calls bómŭ ‘wife of
father’s elder brother; auntie’). She is a photographer (shèyǐngshī). They are looking at
photographs taken in the 30s when Máo Zédōng was in Yán’ān (in northern Shǎnxī).
Bómŭ Nĭ kàn, zhè shi Máo Zédōng zài
Yán’ān.
Look, here’s Mao Zedong at Yan’an.
Máo
Who’s that next to him?
Tā pángbiānr de nèi ge rén
shi shéi?
Bómŭ Yòubiānr de shi Zhū Dé; zuǒbiānr de shi Zhōu Ēnlái. Nĭ kàn,
hòubiānr de nèi liăng ge wàiguó rén
shi Sīnuò hé Sīnuò fūrén.
.
Máo Sīnuò fūfù shi Mĕiguó jìzhĕ, shì
bu shì?
The one on the right is Zhu De,
the one on the left is Zhou Enlai.
Look, those two foreigners in the
back are [Edgar] Snow and Mrs. Snow.
Bómŭ Duì, Sīnuò shi ge ‘guójì yǒurén’,
xiàng Bái Qiú’ēn dàifu.
Right, [Edgar] Snow was an ‘international
friend’, like Dr. Norman Bethune.
Máo
And Zhu De?
Zhū Dé ne?
The Snows were American reporters,
right?
Bómŭ Zhū Dé shi jiāngjun, cānjiā-le
Cháng Zhēng.
Zhu De was a general, who took part in
in the Long March.
Máo
The Great Wall?
Cháng Chéng ne?
Bómŭ Bú shi Cháng Chéng, shi Cháng
Zhēng; Hóngjūn cóng Jǐnggāng
Shān zǒu dào Yán’ān.
Máo
Not the Great Wall, the Long March,
[when] the Red Army marched
from Jingangshan to Yan’an.
O, Cháng Zhēng, wǒ tīngcuò le.
Oh, the Long March – I heard it wrong.
Nǐ shuō de shi 1935 nián de Cháng You’re talking about the Long March of
Zhēng ba. Wǒ yǐwéi nǐ shuō de
1935. I thought you said the Great Wall.
shi Cháng Chéng!
Bómŭ Jiùshi le! Zhū Dé cānjiā-le Cháng
Zhēng.
Exactly! Zhu De took part in the Long
March.
Notes
a) Yán’ān: a city in a remote part of northern Shǎnxī; from 1937-47, it was the
capital of the communist controlled part of China.
b) Zhū Dé, 1886 – 1976; close associate of Mao, and at the inauguration of the
PRC, he was the Commander-in-Chief of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
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c) Zhōu Ēnlái, 1899 – 1976, Premier under the PRC.
d) Sīnuò: Edgar Snow (1905 – 72), an American reporter, author of Red Star over
China, based on interviews with Mao and others conducted at Yan’an after the
Long March. His first wife, Helen Foster Snow, also a journalist, accompanied
him for part of his stay in Yan’an.
e) fūfù ‘husband and wife’. Level toned fū ‘man’ appears as the first syllable of
fūren ‘Mrs.’ (ie ‘man’s person’); falling toned fù ‘woman’ appears in words such
as fùkē ‘gynecology (woman-section)’.
f) guójì yǒurén: a designation for foreigners who helped Chinese during hard
times, especially in the 50s and 60s, when China was most isolated from the rest
of the world.
g) Bái Qiū’ēn: Norman Bethune (1890 – 1939), a Canadian physician who died of
blood poisoning while serving as a doctor in the communist area of China. Mao
wrote an essay on him that was once required reading in China.
h) dàifu: ‘doctor; physician’; cf. yīsheng.
i) jiāngjun ‘military officer; general’
j) cānjiā: ‘to join; participate in; take part in’.
k) Cháng Zhēng ‘The Great March’. In 1934, the Communist forces retreated
from their base areas in rural Jiāngxī (known as the Jiangxi Soviet) under military
pressure from the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party). They marched westwards at
first, and then in a great arc northwards, ending up in Yan’an in 1935, a journey
of almost 10,000 kilometers.
l) Jǐnggāng Shān: The Jinggang Mountains in Jiangxi.
m) Hóngjūn: ‘the Red army’
n) yǐwéi: ‘think; believe [s/t that turns out to be incorrect] (take-to be)’.
[JKW 1997]
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9.2 Clothes
25 years ago, the predominant color of clothing in the PRC was white for shirts, and dark
blue or dark grey for most everything else, though on occasion, youth wore red scarves to
show their political loyalty. Men, in those days, wore Mao suits, a type of attire originally
promoted by Sun Yat-sen earlier in the 20th century to provide a formal dress for civil
servants that looked modern but not completely western. So-called Mao suits are still
called Zhōngshānzhuāng ‘Zhongshan tunics’ or Zhōngshānfú ‘Zhongshan clothes’ in
Chinese. In Mandarin, Sun Yat-sen is usually known not by the Mandarin rendition of
Sun Yat-sen, Sūn Yìxiān, but by his alternate name Sūn Zhōngshān; Zhongshan, on the
coast of Canton province, was his birthplace.
Beginning in the late 1980s, clothing styles started to change in the PRC, and
nowadays, there is little in the way of dress to distinguish people on the street in, say,
Chengdu, from their counterparts in Chicago or Hamburg. However, Chinese styled
garments (actually modern versions of more traditional garments), such as the following,
are still occasionally seen:
traditional
mián’ǎo
cháng páo<r>
mǎguà<r>
qípáo<r>
cotton padded jacket
long scholar’s robe
men’s short coat
‘cheongsam’; woman’s long gown (with slit skirt)
Zhōngguó chuántǒng de yīfu yǒu
mián’ǎo, chángpáo, mǎguà, qípáo
děngděng.
Chinese traditional clothing includes
padded jackets, robes, short coats,
cheongsams, etc.
Ordinary types of clothing are listed below. Most types of clothing are counted by
way of the M-word jiàn; shoes and boots, however, are counted with shuāng ‘pair’, or if
singly, with zhī.
clothing
máoyī sweater (wool-clothing)
jiákè jacket [based on the English]
kùzi
trousers
nèiyī underwear (inner-clothes)
niúzǎikù jeans (cow-boy-trousers)
xié ~ xiézi shoes
T xù<shān>
formal
wear
chènshān
qúnzi
duǎn kùzi
chènkù
wàzi
xuēzi
shirt (lining-shirt)
skirt
shorts
underpants (lining-trs)
socks; stockings
boots
T-shirt [from English ‘T-shirt’, by way of Cantonese, where xù is
pronounced xut]
[yí tào] xīfu
wǎnlǐfú
yèlǐfú
a suit ([a set] western-clothes)
formal evening dress (f) (‘evening-ceremony-clothes’)
formal attire; tuxedo (m) (‘night-ceremony-clothes’)
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Chinese has two words corresponding to English ‘wear’: chuān, literally ‘to pass
through’ is used for clothing and shoes; dài is used for accessories, such as hats, belts and
glasses:
dài
màozi
hat
yǎnjìng
glasses (‘eye-mirror’)
tàiyángjìng dark glasses (‘sun-mirror’)
There is a third word, jì ‘tie; fasten; do up’, which is used for things such as
neckties and seatbelts that in English also get ‘worn’:
jì
lǐngdài
ānquándài
tie (‘neck-belt’)
seatbelt (‘safety-belt’)
Note
The dài of lǐngdài, ‘belt’, is homophonous with dài meaning ‘wear’, but the two
words are unrelated (and written with different characters).
9.2.1 Describing people in terms of their clothes
People can be characterized in terms of the clothes they are wearing:
Nǐ kàn, chuān niúzǎikù de nèi ge
rén – tǐng shímáo de!
Look at that guy in jeans--such style!
Chuān hóng máoyī de nèi ge rén shi
něi wèi?
Who’s the person in the red sweater?
Chuān duǎn kùzi de nèi wèi shi shéi?
Who’s the person wearing shorts?
Dài tàiyángjìng de shi Lǐ Péng.
The one with the sunglasses is Li
Peng.
Jì huáng lǐngdài de shì Zhū Róngjī.
Zhu Rongji’s the one with the yellow
tie.
Ménggǔ rén chuántǒng de yīfu; hòutou de yáng nǐ kàndejiàn ma? [JKW 2001]
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9.3 Bargaining, the way the Chinese might do it.
Recall the earlier material (especially in Unit 8) on shopping and bargaining. Here is a
more sophisticated dialogue that is envisionied as taking place between locals, so the only
likely role for a foreign student is as a bystander, listening in. Because it takes place
between Chinese, it is colloquial, and incorporates a number of quite idiomatic
expressions, which are explicated in the notes. It is worth trying to enact the Chinese
roles, but to be effective, you will need to sustain a convincing level of fluency.
Běijīng: Yǐ runs a shop that sells leather jackets; Jiǎ is a female customer.
Jiǎ: Lǎobǎn, zhèi jiàn pídàyī duōshao qián? Proprietor, how much is this leather coat?
Yǐ: Yìqiānwǔ.
¥1,500.
Jiǎ: Jiu zhèi yàngr de pídàyī yìqiānwǔ?!
Tài hēi le ba! Biéde dìfang gēn zhèi
jiàn chàbuduō yíyàng de, cái wǔbǎi
duō kuài! Nǐ gěi yí ge gōngdao diǎnr
de jià!
A jacket like that is ¥1,500?! That’s a ‘rip
off’. At other places, coats almost exactly
the same as this one are only ¥500 plus!
Give [me] a more reasonable price!
Yǐ: Nǐ kāi shénme guójì wánxiào! Zhè shi
zhēn pí de! Nǐ mōmo, shǒugǎn duō
hǎo! Nǐ zài biéde dìfang kàndào de
yídìng shi jiǎhuò! Nèi yàng de yīfu,
nǐ chuānbuliǎo duō cháng shíjiàn jiu
huài le. Wǒ zhèi jiàn, bǎo nín chuān
tā ge jǐshí nián méiyou wèntí!
What sort of an ‘international joke’ are you
pulling? This is a real leather one! Feel it,
the texture’s so nice! Those you saw elsewhere must be fakes! That sort of clothing,
you can’t wear it for any length of time
before it’s worn out. The one I have, it’s
a sure thing that you can wear it several
decades without a problem!
Jiǎ: Lǎobǎn, nǐ jiu chuī ba! Fǎnzhèng
chuīniú yě bú shàngshuì!
‘Boss’, you’re having me on! Still,
bragging’s not taxed!
Yǐ: Zhèiyàng ba, dàjiě, wǒ kàn nín shi
zhēnxīn yào mǎi. Wǒ jiu fàng yìdiǎnr
xiě. Nǐ gěi yìqiānsān zěnmeyàng?
How about this, sister, I see that you’re
serious about buying [it]; okay I’ll take a
hit. How about you pay ¥1,300?
Jiǎ: Yìqiānsān bù xíng. Wǔbǎi, nǐ mài
bu mài?
¥1,300’s not on. ¥500 – you selling or not?
Yǐ: Aiya, dàjiě, nín zǒngděi ràng wǒ zhuàn
yìdiǎnr ba! Wǒ shànghuò jiu bābǎi. Nǐ
duō gěi yìdiǎnr. Nèi diǎnr qián, duì nín
lái shuō, jiùshi jǐ dùn fàn qián, dànshi
duì wǒ lái shuō, hěn zhòngyào. Wǒ yào
zhuàn yìdiǎnr qián gěi wǒ háizi jiāo
xuéfèi.
Gosh, sister, you have to let me earn s/t!
It takes me ¥800 to buy the stock. Pay me
a bit more. The extra is only a couple of
meals for you, but for me, it’s crucial. I need
to earn some money to pay for my kid’s
tuition.
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Jiǎ: Bābǎi zěnmeyàng?
¥800 then?
Yǐ: Bābǎi tài shǎo le; zài duō gěi yìdiǎnr.
Yìqiān’èr.
¥800’s too little; give a little more. ¥1,200.
Jiǎ: Jiǔbǎi.
¥900.
Yǐ: Yìqiānyī. Yàobu, zán qǔ ge zhōng,
zěnmeyàng? Nǐ gěi yìqiān: wǒ shǎo
zhuàn yìdiǎnr, nín duō gěi diǎnr.
¥1,100. Or else how about splitting
the difference? Pay ¥1,000. I earn a
bit less, you pay a bit more.
Jiǎ: Bù xíng, jiǔ bǎi, nín mài bu mài? Nǐ
bú mài wǒ jiu zǒu le.
Nope; ¥900 – take it or leave it. If you
don’t take it, I’m leaving.
Yǐ: Hǎo, hǎo, jiǔbǎi jiu jiǔbǎi. Ai, dàjiě,
nín kě zhēn néng tǎojià-huánjià. Wǒ
kě zhēn fú-le nín le. Hǎo le, dàjiě,
jiu suàn zán jiāo ge péngyou. Nín gěi
wǒ jièshao jǐ ge péngyou lai, duō
mǎi dōngxi, hǎo bu hǎo?… Zhè shi
nín de pídàyī. Náhǎo.
Okay, okay, ¥900 then. Gosh, sister, you
can really bargain! I’ve got to hand it to
you! So, sister, that makes us friends. How
about introducing some friends to me [and]
buying more… Here’s your coat. Hold on
to it!
Jiǎ: Zhè shi jiǔbǎi zhěng. Nǐ shǔshǔ.
Here’s ¥900 exactly – count it.
Yǐ: Méi cuò, zhèng hǎo jiǔbǎi.
Nín màn zǒu. Huānyíng nín zài lái.
Correct, exactly ¥900 .
Take care. Please come back again.
Based on Chen Tong, 09/05
Notes:
tài hēi le
‘too black’, which suggests ‘extortion’; ‘rip off’ has the
right level of informality, but may be too offensive.
gōngdao
SV: used regionally to mean ‘friendly; affable’; so gōngdao
(hédào in the South) diǎnr de jià ‘a more reasonable price’.
guójì wánxiào
‘international joke’, meaning ‘out of the realm of
possibilities; outlandish; off the wall’
zhēn pí de
‘real leather one’
mō
‘to feel’
shǒugǎn
‘the feel [of it] (hand-feel)’
jiǎhuò
‘fakes (false-goods)’
chuānbuliǎo
V-bu-liǎo ‘cannot V’; cf. §9.8.3 (b)
bǎo
‘keep; ensure; guarantee’; contrast bǎo ‘full’
chuān tā
a case where tā refers to a thing, not a person.
ge jǐshí nián
with jǐshí nián measured by the M-word ge: ‘wear it for a
couple of decades’
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chuī
‘blow’, but here, short for chuīniú or chuī niúpí; see next
entry.
chuīniú ~ niúpí
VO ‘talk big; have [one] on (blow-ox <skin>)’
fǎnzhèng
‘anyway (overturned-upright)’
zhēnxīn
‘sincere (real-heart)’
fàng xiě ~ xuè
‘bleed (put-blood)’, here in the sense of ‘make the
sacrifice’; ‘blood’ is more often xiě in this context.
zǒngděi
‘must; have to (always-must)’
ràng
‘let [one do s/t]’
shànghuò
VO ‘replenish stock (load-goods)’
duì nín lái shuō
‘in your case; for you (to you come say)’
zhòngyào
SV ‘important; crucial (heavy-need)’
jiāo xuéfèi
VO ‘deliver tuition (deliver study-expenses)’; gěi wǒ háizi
jiāo xuéfèi ‘for my child hand-over tuition’
zài duō gěi yìdiǎnr
‘give a bit more again’; cf. §8….
yàobu
‘if not’; a reduced form of yàoburán ‘otherwise (if-not-so)’;
also bùrǎn ‘not so’.
zán
colloquial, or regional, for zánmen; cf. §2…
qǔ ge zhōng
‘split the difference (fetch the middle)’
nín kě zhēn néng … ‘you sure really can…’; kě here, an adverb.
tǎojià-huánjià
VO-VO ‘bargain (ask a price-return a price)’
fú
‘to submit’
kě zhēn fú le nín le ‘got to hand it to you (sure really submit LE you LE)’
suàn
V ‘calculate; reckon’
jiāo ge péngyou
jiao ‘hand over; meet’: jiāo ge péngyou ‘make a friend’;
jiāo xuéfèi ‘hand over tuition’
jiǔbǎi zhěng
= zhěng jiǔbǎi; zhěng ‘whole; entire; fully’. Cf. Zhěng sān
diǎn or sān diǎn zhěng ‘3 o’clock on the dot’. To be
contrasted with zhèng ‘exactly; precisely’ – see next entry.
zhèng hǎo jiǔbǎi
‘exactly ¥900 (precisely-good 900)’
Huānyíng nín zài lái. In China, this phrase is often translated literally into
English as ‘Welcome to come again!’.
9.4 Setting the stage: Verb-zhe (着 ; often 著 in Taiwan)
Of the three particles associated with the verb in Chinese, guo was encountered early on,
le (in its post-verbal manifestation) more recently, but zhe has been almost completely
avoided until now. There is a reason for this. Most of the language presented so far has
dealt with events, actions or inner states. Zhe is rare in such language. Zhe serves
primarily to set the scene (‘the door’s open, there’s a vase on the table, the blinds are
drawn’) and to indicate the various configurations of the actors (‘a man’s standing at the
door, he’s wearing a long robe and holding a pipe in his hands’). Like guo and le, zhe
precludes any other attachments to the verb – other suffixes (such as guo or le) or verbal
complements (such as wán or guòlai).
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9.4.1 Verbs involving configuration or bodily attitudes
Zhàn and zuò and the words listed below are examples of verbs that involve attitudes or
configurations of the body that are compatible with the persisting state interpretation and
therefore particularly susceptible to the zhe suffix.
zhàn
zuò
tǎng
shuì<jiào>
dūn
stand
sit
lie
sleep
squat; wait
crouch
děng
dīng
lèng
watch stare
intently blankly
Examples
Tā zài dìbǎn shàng shuì-zhe ne.
He’s asleep on the floor.
Tā zài shāfa shàng tǎng-zhe ne.
She was lying on the sofa.
Tāmen zài ménkŏu děng-zhe nĭ ne. They’re waiting for you at the door.
Bié lèng-zhe. Lái bāng wŏ ná!
Duìbuqĭ, wŏ lèi+de bùdeliăo.
Don’t just stare; give me a hand.
Sorry, I’m exhausted.
Dàbiàn, zuò-zhe bùrú dūn-zhe
shūfu!
Wŏ tóngyì.
With #2, sitting isn’t as comfortable
as squatting.
I agree.
Standing or sitting in class?
The act of standing up can be expressed as zhànqĭlai; the act of sitting down, as zuòxià –
both making use of directional complements (comparable to English ‘up’ and ‘down’).
However, once the acts have been performed, the resulting states are ‘standing’ and
‘sitting’, respectively: zhàn-zhe and zuò-zhe:
Kuài yào shàngkè de shíhou lăoshī gēn nĭmen shuō shénme ne? Tā shuō
“Shàngkè.” Nĭmen jiu zhànqĭlai gēn tā shuō: “Lăoshī, hăo.” Ránhòu ne? Nĭmen
děi zhàn-zhe, duì ba? Zuò-zhe tài shūfu le, rúguŏ nĭmen yǒu yìdiănr lèi de huà,
hĕn kuài jiu huì shuìzháo de. Zhàn-zhe shuō wàiyŭ gèng hăo. Dāng nĭmen liànxí
duìhuà de shíhou, lăoshī jīngcháng shuō: “Zhàn-zhe kĕyĭ, zuò-zhe yĕ kĕyĭ.” Zhè
shíhou nĭmen cái kĕyĭ zuòxià. Dànshi rúguŏ nĭmen bànyǎn de shi fúwùyuán de
huà, nà nĭmen zuì hăo zhàn-zhe. Zài Zhōngguó, fúwùyuán shi bù gēn kèrén zuò
zài yìqĭ!
Notes:
ránhòu ‘afterwards’
dàduōshù ‘the majority’
dāng…de shíhou ‘when’
liànxí ‘practice’
duìhuà ‘dialogues’
bànyǎn ‘take the role of’; act’
huì…de ‘will [in predications]’
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Verbs of wearing (chuān, dài ‘wear [accessories]’, jì [ties]) and holding (ná
‘carry; hold’, dài ‘lead; bring’) also commonly appear with zhe:
Tā jīntiān chuān-zhe yí jiàn hóng
dàyī ne.
Today she’s wearing a red coat.
Tā tóu shàng dài-zhe yì dǐng qíguài She was wearing a curious hat on [her] head.
de màozi.
Nĭ shǒu lĭ ná-zhe de shi shénme?
Yì bāo kŏuxiāngtáng!
What are you holding in your hands?
A pack of bubble gum.
Nĭ kàn, tā shǒu lĭ ná-zhe qiāng.
Nĭ fàngxīn ba. Shǎoshù mínzǔ hĕn
xĭhuan dǎliè.
Look, he’s got a gun.
Don’t worry! Minority people love to hunt!
9.4.2 Doors and windows
In addition to the configurations of people, the arrangement of furnishings and other
objects in a room can also be presented with V-zhe.
Ns
yǐzi
zhuōzi
chair table
Vs
guà
hang
fàng
put
huà<r>
picture
dēng
light
bǎi
arrange; display
huāpíng
vase
chuānghu
window
qiáng
wall
suǒ
lock
guān
close; shut
kāi
open
a) Item V-zhe
Mén kāi-zhe <ne>.
Mén kāi-zhe – kěyǐ.
The door’s open.
It’s okay open.
Dēng kāi-zhe ne.
Qǐng bǎ tā guānshàng.
The light’s on.
Please switch it off.
Chuānghu guān-zhe ne.
Méi guānxi, tài lěng le.
The window’s closed.
Never mind, it’s too cold [to have it open].
Mén suǒ-zhe ne. Jìnbuqù.
Wǒ yǒu yàoshi.
The door’s locked. Can’t get in.
I have a key.
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b) Existance: Location V-zhe item
V-zhe can also provide a more precise substitute for yǒu in the existence pattern:
LOC’N yǒu ITEM
>
LOC’N V-zhe ITEM
Chuānghu pángbiānr yǒu
yì zhāng zhuōzi.
There’s a table next to the window.
Chuānghu pángbiānr fàng-zhe
yì zhāng zhuōzi.
There’s a table standing next to the window.
(ie ‘placed there and remaining’)
>
English often uses the verbs ‘stand’ or ‘sit’ in such contexts, extending terms that are
otherwise only applied to humans to physical objects. Chinese does not do this:
Zhuōzi shàng fàng-zhe yí ge
huāpíng.
There was a vase sitting on the table.
Other examples:
Zhuōzi shàng bǎi-zhe jǐ zhāng
míngpiàn.
A number of business cards were arranged
on the table.
Qiáng shàng guà-zhe yì fú huàr.
Hanging on the wall was a painting.
Shāfa shàng zuò-zhe yí ge jǐngchá.
A policeman was sitting on the sofa.
Zhuōzi dǐxia shuì-zhe yí ge xiǎo
wáwa.
A baby was sleeping under the table.
c) Location: Person Location V-zhe <ne>.
The location pattern with zài also has its correlate with V-zhe:
Tā zài chuáng shàng zuò-zhe ne.
They are/were sitting on the bed.
Tāmen zài shāfa shàng shuì-zhe ne. They’re sleeping on the sofa.
Kèren zài ménkŏu děng-zhe nĭ ne.
[Your] guest’s waiting for you at the door.
d) V-zhe V
Zhe frequently accompanies the first of two verbs. In such cases, V-zhe provides the
setting, or context, for the second verb:
Tā ná-zhe huà huíjiā le.
She went home, holding the painting.
Bù yīnggāi dī-zhe tóu zǒulù!
You shouldn’t walk with your head down.
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Tā xiào-zhe shuō:
She laughed and said:
Wǒ méi shíjiān gēn nǐ cāi-zhe
wánr.
I don’t have time to play guessing games
with you. (‘guess-ing have fun’)
Notes
a) dī ‘to lower’; contrast dǐxià ‘under; underneath’.
b) xiào ‘laugh; smile’; cf. xiàohuà ‘a joke’; kāi wánxiào ‘be kidding’.
c) cāi ‘guess’; cāiduì ‘guess right’ and cāicuò‘guess wrong’; cāibuchū ‘cannot
guess; cannot figure out’
e) V-zhe in imperatives
Zhe can also appear in imperatives:
Nǐ liú-zhe ba.
Ná-zhe ba.
Děng-zhe ba.
Tīng-zhe – bié zài shuō le!
You take [it]. (‘keep-persist’)
Hold [it], please. (‘hold persist’)
Hang on.
Listen – don’t say any more!
f) Negation
There seems to be relatively little need to report the negation of a persistent state. But
where it occurs, it is formed with méi<you>, (usually) without zhe:
Mén shì bu shì kāi-zhe ne?
Méi kāi, guān-zhe de.
Is the door open?
It isn’t open, it’s closed.
Qĭngwèn, jǐ diǎn?
Duìbuqĭ, wŏ jīntiān méi dài biăo.
What’s the time, please?
Sorry, I’m not wearing my watch today.
Exercise 2
a) Provide English paraphrases:
1.
Zhàn-zhe gànmá? Zuòxià ba. / Wŏ zhàn-zhe bǐ zuò-zhe shūfu.
2.
Nĭ kàn, Wèi lăoshī shǒu shàng dài-zhe yí ge dà jīn biăo, shēn shàng chuān-zhe yí
jiàn pídàyī. / Duì, tā gāng zhòng-le yí ge dàjiǎng!
Xuéxiào de dàménkǒu xiĕ-zhe ‘Hǎohǎo xuéxí, tiāntiān xiàng shàng.’
3.
4.
Nĭ kuài chūqù kànkan, mén wàitou zhàn-zhe yí ge lǎowài, shuō shi yào zhǎo nĭ.
5.
Wàitou xià-zhe xuě, kĕshì yìdiănr dōu bù lěng!
biăo
gāng
zhòngjiǎng
N ‘watch’
xuě
ADV ‘just; a short while ago’
xuéxiào
VO ‘win a lottery; hit the jackpot (hit-prize)
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N ‘snow’
N ‘school’
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b) Provide Chinese praphrases:
1.
When we got there, there were already people waiting for us in front of the door.
2.
“The door’s open, you can go on in,” I said.
3.
“The door’s locked, we can’t get in,” they said.
3.
Don’t stand; the people sitting in the back can’t see. There are seats in front still.
4.
There was a table by the door with several bottles of soda arranged on it.
5.
On the wall above the table was a sign (páizi) with characters written on it.
___________________________________________________________________
9.4.3 Ongoing acts versus persisting states
First impressions tend to associate V-zhe with English V-ing: zhànzhe ‘standing’; zuòzhe
‘sitting’. However, while it is true that many cases of V-zhe do correspond to V-ing in
English, the reverse is not true: many cases of V-ing do not correspond to V-zhe. The
reason for this is that English uses V-ing for both ongoing acts, and for the ongoing states
that result:
She’s standing up at this very
moment.
Tā zhèng zài zhànqǐlai ne. [act]
She’s not moving, she’s
just standing there.
Tā bú dòng, jiu zài nàr zhàn-zhe ne.
[state]
Zhèng zài supports the directional complement, qǐlai, to underscore the fact that
the action is happening before our eyes – it’s ongoing; while the presence of zhe after
zhàn indicates that the standing is persistent. While both are in a sense ongoing, Chinese
distinguishes them as ongoing act versus persisting state.
Recall that ongoing or recent actions are often explicitly marked by zài placed in
the adverbial position right before the verb:
Tāmen hái zài xǐzǎo ne.
They’re still bathing.
Nǐ zuìjìn zài zuò shénme?
What have you been doing lately?
Tāmen tiāntiān zài xuéxí
Zhōngwén.
They’ve been studying Chinese daily.
To emphasize how current the action is, the ADV zhèng ‘exact’ can be placed before zài:
Tā zhèng zài chīfàn ne. Yìhuĭr gĕi
nĭ dǎguoqu, xíng ma?
Xíng, bù jí, bù jí.
She’s eating right now. Can she phone you
[back] in a short while?
Sure, no hurry.
Wǒ zhèng zài xǐzǎo de shíhou,
jǐngchá gěi wǒ dǎ-le ge diànhuà.
Tāmen gēn nǐ shuō shénme?
The police phoned me just as I was having a
bath.
What did they want?
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Tā zhèng zài gēn tā shuōhuà ne.
Tāmen zài shuō xiē shénme?
Julian K. Wheatley, 4/07
She’s talking to him right now.
What are they talking about?
In fact, for some northern speakers, the pattern can be further reinforced by a following
zhe – along with final ne:
Zhèng zài xià-zhe yǔ ne.
Zāogāo, wǒ de sǎn wàng zài
jiā lǐ le.
It’s raining right now!
Drat, I’ve left my umbrella at home!
The fact that zài may co-occur with zhe may seem strange, since in the last section, V-zhe
was viewed in contrast to the zai-V pattern. But apparently, in some cases the two notions
of ongoing and persisting can complement one another. The range of the V-ing form in
English (the so-called progressive tense) – which includes ongoing actions (putting on)
and persistent states (wearing) – is, after all, a precedent for associating the two notions.
9.4.4 Perspectives
Notice that some situations can be interpreted as ongoing actions or persistent states:
Tā zhèng zài shuìjiào ne.
Tā shuì-zhe ne.
She’s just going to bed.
She’s asleep.
[action]
[state]
Tā zài dĕng chē.
Tā děng-zhe ne.
He’s waiting for a bus.
He’s waiting.
[action]
[state]
Tāmen zài chīfàn ne.
Tāmen yíkuàir chī-zhe fàn ne.
They’re eating.
They’re having a meal.
[action]
[state]
Tāmen dōu zài tiàowŭ.
Péngyou chàng-zhe, tiào-zhe,
gāoxìng-jíle!
They’re all dancing.
[action]
The friends are extremely
[state]
happy, singing and dancing.
Tā zhèng zài chuān dàyī ne.
Tā chuān-zhe dàyī ne.
She’s putting on her coat
right now.
She’s wearing a coat.
[state]
Tā zài ná qiāng.
Tā shǒu lĭ názhe yì zhī qiāng.
He’s picking up a gun.
He’s holding a gun.
[action]
[state]
Tā zài bǎ shū fàng zài hézi lĭ.
He’s putting the books in
a box.
There are lots of books
sitting in the box.
[action]
Hézi lĭ fàng-zhe hĕn duō shū.
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[action]
[state]
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Julian K. Wheatley, 4/07
Exercise 3
Paraphrase in Chinese:
1.
The soup’s hot. / The soups heating up. / The soup’s hot now [ie heated].
2.
She’s closing the door. / She closed the door. / The door’s closed.
3.
He’s putting on his shoes. / He was wearing sandals (tuōxié). / He put on his
shoes.
4.
I’m just in the process of finishing up my report (bàogào).
5.
She’s in the bath right now; can you come back in 20 minutes?
____________________________________________________________________
9.4.5 At the temple
Lăo Wèi is visiting the Qìngfúgōng in the Chinese quarter of Rangoon (Yángguāng),
Burma (Miăndiàn). Qìngfúgōng means, literally, ‘palace celebrating good fortune’. In
China and Southeast Asia, temples are often considered palaces of the gods, hence the
use of the term gōng ‘palace’ in the name. [Sū xiānshēng is based on a real person, a
Sino-Burmese whose ancestors emigrated to Burma by way of Singapore early in the 20th
century. Typical of Sino-Burmese, he speaks Hokkien (Mǐnnányǔ), Burmese
(Miǎndiànyǔ), as well as some Mandarin.]
Wèi
Sū xiānsheng, zhè shi Qìngfúgōng – gōngdiàn de gōng, duì ma?
Wèishénme jiào gōng?
Mr. Su, this is Qingfu Gong – the gong
of ‘palace’, right? How come it’s called
a ‘palace’?
Sū
Zài Dōngnányà, gōng yě shi sìmiào
de yìsi.
.
Nà, zhèi ge sìmiào hĕn yǒu yìsi.
Nǐ kàn, ménshàng de ménshén –
zhēn wēiwǔ!
In Southeast Asia, ‘palace’ also means
‘temple’.
Well, this temple is interesting. Look
at the door guardians on the door –
they’re quite impressive!
Sū
Zhè shi Yángguāng zuì lăo de
sìmiào, 1898 nián jiànlì de.
This is Rangoon’s oldest temple; it was
established in 1898.
Wèi
Sū xiānshēng, qĭngwèn, zhè shi
shénme shén?
Mr. Su, can I ask you what god this is?
Sū
Guān Dì; huòzhĕ Guān Lǎoye.
Bĕnlái shi ge jiāngjun, shi
Sānguó shídài de yīngxióng. Sǐdiào
yĭhòu chéng-le ge shén.
It’s Guan Di; or ‘Lord’ Guan. He was
originally a general, a hero from the
time of the 3 Kingdoms. After he died,
he became a ‘god’.
Wèi
Nĭ zĕnme zhīdao shi Guān Dì.
How do you know it’s Guan Di?
Wèi
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Sū
Nĭ kàn, gèzi hĕn gāo, yǒu cháng
húzi, hóng liăn, tóu shàng dài-zhe
<yí> ge tèsè de màozi, shǒu lĭ
ná-zhe yì bĕn shū.
Look, he’s tall, has a long beard,
a red face, he’s got a special hat
on his head, and a book in his hand.
Wèi
Liăn hĕn kěpà. Tā shǒu lĭ ná-zhe
de shi shénme shū ne?
What a frightening face! What’s the book
he’s holding?
Sū
Hǎoxiàng shi Kǒngfūzǐ de Chūnqiū. Looks like it’s Confucius’ Spring and
Guān Dì yĕ shi yǒu xuéwen de.
Autumn Annals. Guan Di is learned as well.
Notes
a) Qìngfúgōng ‘The temple of blessed happiness’.
b) sìmiào Generic wod for ‘temple’.
c) shén ‘god; divinity’; shén are usually deified historical figures whose spiritual
power can be called on for protection or assistance. Guān Dì was Guān Yǔ, the
third of the heroes who swore brotherhood in the famous ‘peach garden oath’ that
opens Sānguó Yǎnyì ‘The Romance of the Three Kingdoms’. He has many other
names, including Guān Lǎoye ‘Grandpa Guan’ – which in this context is probably
better translated ‘Lord Guan’.
d) yīngxióng ‘hero’ – also the name of a Zhāng Yìmóu’s film.
e) sǐdiào ‘die-fall’ = sǐ le ‘died’.
f) chéng ‘become’
g) húzi ‘beard’
h) tèsè N ‘special, unusual qualities’, ie ‘a hat of an unusual type’; the tè of tèbié
and the sè of yánsè. Tèsè is a N, not a SV.
i) kěpà ‘frightening (able-fear)’; cf. kě’ài.
j) Chūnqiū ‘The Spring and Autumn Annals (spring-autumn)’, a chronicle of the
State of Lǔ (that covered parts of modern Shāndōng) from 722-481 BC. It is
considered to have been edited by Confucius in such a way as to illustrate his
political philosophy.
k) yǒu xuéwen de ‘one who has ~ shows learning, scholarship’ (of a person, or a
work).
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Gods of Literature and War at the Man-Mo (Wén Wǔ) Temple, Hong Kong.
[JKW 2005]
9.5 Colors
The Chinese core color terms are the following:
hóng
red
zǐ
purple;
violet
huáng
yellow
lǜ
lán
green blue
hēi
bái
black white
Qīng, a term that was applied to dark greens, blues and some browns – the colors of earth
and sky – in earlier Chinese, appears in certain phrases, such as qīngcài ‘green
vegetables’ or qīngshān-lǜshuǐ ‘green mountains and blue waters’ (a standard description
for lush scenery).
When used to modify a noun, color terms are often suffixed with sè, from yánsè
‘color’:
huángsè de
hóngsè de
zǐsè de
lǜsè de
lánsè de
Secondary color terms have been formed by extending the meaning of words from
other semantic domains, eg ‘grey’ from ‘ash’:
huīsè de
ashes
> grey
kāfēisè de
coffee
> dark brown
zōngsè de
palm
> brown
chéngsè de
orange
> orange
Not surprisingly, colors have rich cultural associations in China. Traditionally, red
(the color of blood) is considered festive and auspicious, and for that reason, was adopted
by the Communist Party. Doorway scrolls (duìlián) are written on red paper; presents are
often wrapped in it. Charms (symbols on paper, sold in temples) were generally written
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on yellow paper. Only the emperor could wear yellow. White was associated with
funerals.
Examples:
hóng yīfu
hóngsè de yīfu
red clothes
lán xiézi
lánsè de xiézi
blue shoes
hēi màozi
hēisè de màozi
black hats
Usage
Xiànzài zài Zhōngguó shénme
yánsè de chē zuì liúxíng?
What color cars are most popular in
China these days?
Chuān hēisè de yīfu hěn kù!
It’s cool to wear black clothes!
Chuān huángsè de T-xù de
nèi wèi shi shuí [shéi]?
Who’s that wearing the yellow T?
Jì hóngsè de lǐngdài de shi
Jiāng Zémín.
The person in the red tie is Jiāng Zémín.
Nǐ kàn, tā chuān hóng xié, tài
qíguài le!
Look, he’s wearing red shoes, [that]’s
too weird!
9.6 Dialogue: buying a seal
Seals, made of stone, jade, etc. are sold from street stands, in specialty shops and in
department stores. When you buy, you select a blank first, then the characters are
engraved in either standard script, or more often, in small seal script (xiǎozhuàn).
Jiǎ:
Nèi ge túzhāng néng kànkan ma?
Can I take a look at that seal?
Yǐ:
Nǐ shuō de shì zhèi ge ma?
You talking about this one?
Jiǎ:
Bù, nèi ge fāng fāng de.
No, that square one.
Yǐ:
Zhèi ge ma?
This one?
Jiǎ:
Ng. Kànkan kěyǐ ma?
M hm. Can I take a look?
Yǐ:
Méi wèntí!
By all means!
Jiǎ:
Shi yù zuò de ma?
Is it made of jade?
Yǐ:
Bú shì! Yù hěn guì!
Shì shítou de, dàlǐshí de.
No, it’s not jade. Jade’s expensive!
It’s stone, marble.
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Jiǎ:
Nà, duōshao qián?
So, how much?
Yǐ:
Èrshíwǔ kuài.
¥25.
Jiǎ:
Nà yàoshì kè zì hái yào qián ma?
Is it extra if you engrave characters?
Yǐ:
Yí ge zì wǔ kuài qián.
It’s ¥5 a character.
Jiǎ:
Néng piányi diǎnr ma?
Wǒ yào kè sān ge zì.
Can you make it a bit less?
I need 3 characters engraved.
Yǐ:
Nà, shí’èr kuài. Yígòng sānshíqī kuài .
Okay, ¥12. ¥37 all together.
Jiǎ:
Sānshíwǔ ba!
¥35!
Yǐ:
Ng, hǎo, sānshíwǔ.
Hm, okay, ¥35.
Jiǎ:
Hǎo, jiu zhèiyàng ba.
Okay, that’s it then.
gōngyì: ‘handicrafts’ etc.
zìhuà
huāpíng
shànzi
ěrhuán
xiàngliàn
màozi
yùdiāo
yádiāo
M-word
scrolls (character-picture)
vases (flower-bottle)
fans
(ear-rings)
necklace (nape-chain)
hat
jade carving
ivory carving
zhāng
gè
bǎ (hand fan)
duì (pair); zhī (one of pair)
tiáo
dǐng
gè
gè
shapes and textures
yuán <yuán> de
cū <cū> de
guānghuá de
round
rough
smooth
material
sùliào de
mùtou de
zhēnsī de
bù de
yínzi de
plastic
wooden
[real] silk
cloth
silver
shítou de
xiàngyá de
zhǐ de
jīnzi de
qīngtóng de
379
stone
ivory (elephant-tooth)
paper
gold
bronze (green copper)
Learning Chinese: A Foundation Course in Mandarin
Seals for sale, Tianjin.
Julian K. Wheatley, 4/07
[JKW 2001]
9.7 The BǍ (把) construction
In Chinese, shifting the position of objects – things affected or effected by the verb – may
produce subtle shifts in meaning that are either achieved in other ways in English, or not
explicitly acknowledged at all. For example, in some cases the object (the thing affected
– the window – in the following example) may follow the verb, much as in English:
1
Qǐng dǎkāi chuānghu.
Yǐjing dǎkāi le.
Open a window please. [any window]
[I] already have.
Here the speaker is not designating a specific window – any window will do. But if the
speaker wants to indicate a specific window, then he is more likely to say:
2
Qǐng bǎ chuānghu dǎkāi.
Wŏ yǐjing bǎ tā dǎkāi le.
Please open the window. [a specific one]
[I]’ve already opened it.
Instructions that involve manipulation of particular items almost always elicit the
grammatical word bǎ (把) [or its more formal counterpart, jiāng (將/将)]. Bǎ, which
derives from a verb meaning ‘to take’, serves to spotlight a following phrase referring to
an item that is to be moved, taken, broken, prepared, hidden, painted, purged, promoted
or otherwise affected or changed in some way. For that reason, bǎ is typically associated
with verb-combos (action plus result), or at very least, verb-le (action done) or a
reduplicated verb (qiēqie ‘cut up’). For the same reason, bǎ is not elicited by verbs like
xǐhuan or kàn, which do not have a similar effect on their objects:
Wŏ hĕn xĭhuan nèi bù diànyĭng.
Wŏ yĭjing kànwán-le nèi bĕn shū.
I love that movie! [no bǎ]
I’ve finished reading the book. [no bǎ]
Nor does bǎ appear with potential verb combos, for which the effect is not actual, only
imagined:
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[no bǎ]
[with bǎ]
Tā nèi jiàn xiāngzi wŏ nábuqǐlai.
Wŏ bāng nĭ bǎ tā náqǐlai.
Julian K. Wheatley, 4/07
I can’t lift that suitcase of hers.
I’ll help you lift it.
The bǎ phrase almost always refers to particular items, so that in many cases the
difference between a sentence with bǎ and one without is, as examples 1 and 2 [above]
show, a question of whether the object is definite (‘the window’) or not (‘a window’).
Other examples:
3.
Qǐng bǎ mén dǎkāi.
Wǒ yǐjing bǎ mén dǎkāi le.
Please open the door.
I’ve already opened it.
4.
Yǒu diǎnr hēi, qǐng bǎ dēng dǎkāi.
It’s a bit dark, put the light on, please.
Dēng huài le, dǎbukāi.
The light’s broken, [it] won’t go on.
Nà, wǒmen bǎ zhuōzi bāndào
chuānghu nàr, hǎo bu hǎo?
Well then, let’s move the table over
to the window, okay?
Tài zhòng le, bānbudòng.
It’s too heavy, [it] can’t be moved.
Nà, bǎ táidēng náguolai ba.
Okay, then let’s bring the desk-lamp over
here.
Qǐng bǎ lóng nèi ge zì xiě zài
hēibǎn shàng.
Please write the character for dragon on
the blackboard.
Hǎo, wǒ bǎ lóng nèi ge zì xiě zài
hēibǎn shàng le.
Okay, I’ve written the character for dragon
on the board.
Xiě+de hěn hǎo. Xiànzài bǎ
fèng zì xiě zài hēibǎn shàng.
[You]’ve written [it] very nicely. Now write
the character for phoenix on the board.
Hǎo, wŏ bǎ fèng nèi ge zì xiě zài
hēibǎn shàng le.
Okay, I’ve written the character for phoenix
on the blackboard.
6.
Shéi bǎ wǒ de píjiǔ hē le?
Méi rén hē-le nǐ de píjiǔ!
Who drank my beer?
No one’s drunk your beer!
7.
Nǐ xiān bǎ niúròu qiēqie.
Zěnme qiē, qiē piànr háishi
qiē kuàir?
First slice the beef.
How? Into slices, or into pieces?
5.
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8.
Julian K. Wheatley, 4/07
Qǐng bǎ zìxíngchē fàng zài
xiǎoxiàng lǐ le.
Please put your bike in the alley.
[with le marking a ‘change of state’]
Fàng zài xiǎoxiàng lǐ gòu
ānquán ma?
Will it be safe enough if I put it there?
Méi wènti, wǒ huì bāng nǐ kān-zhe. No problem, I’ll help you to keep an eye
on it.
Notes
a) Example 8 suggests how the sense of the modern function and properties of bǎ
can be adduced from ba’s original function as a verb meaning ‘take’, ie from
‘Take your bicycle and put it in the alley’ to ‘put your bicycle in the alley’.
b) Note kān-zhe, with level tone on kān when it means ‘tend; watch over’ (still
written 看), eg kān háizi ‘babysit children’.
As a vestige of its verbal origins, bǎ can be directly negated or modified by
adverbs:
Tā méi bǎ chuānghu dăkāi.
She didn’t open the windows.
Tāmen yĭjing bǎ dōngxi názǒu le.
They’ve already taken the things out.
Bié bǎ shūbāo fàng zai zhuōzi
shàng.
Don’t put [your] bookbags on the table.
9.7.1 Making tea
Instructions are a prototypical site for ba-phrases, because instructions involve picking
particular objects from a set and doing things with them. Here, for example, are
instructions for making a cup of tea. The master brewer makes reference to the following
items:
shuǐ shuǐhú huǒ chábēi
water kettle fire teacup
cháyè
tea leaves
hé
box
bēizi
cup
gàizi
top; a cover
And then performs the following operations on them – all of which involve complex
verbs (or in one case, a verb followed by a zai-phrase).
dàojìn fàng zài
pour-in put in
shāokāi
boil-open
zhǔnbèihǎo náchūlai
prepare-well take-out
fàngjìn
put-in
gàishàng
cover-on
And (s)he instructs as follows:
Bǎ shuǐ dàojìn shuǐhú lǐ, bǎ shuǐhú fàng zài huǒ shàng, bǎ shuǐ shāokāi.
Ránhòu bǎ chábēi zhǔnbèihǎo, bǎ cháyè cóng cháyèhé lǐ náchūlai, fàngjìn
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chábēi lǐ, bǎ shāokāi-le de shuǐ dàojìn bēizi lǐ, ránhòu bǎ bēizi de gàizi
gàishàng; liǎng fēn zhōng yǐhòu nǐ jiu kěyǐ hē le.
Notes
Dàojìn ‘pour-into’ and fàngjìn ‘put-into’ are both followed by places: dàojìn
shuǐhú lǐ; fàngjìn chábēi lǐ. In such cases lái or qù is either postponed until after
the place (dàojìn shuǐhú lǐ qù), or as here, simply omitted.
Exercise 4
Paraphrase the following in Chinese:
It’s rather late – almost time for dinner. In the living room, there are a couple of students
sitting on the sofa, one tall with blond hair, one short with black; both are wearing
glasses. In front of them is a table; and laid out on the table are a set of boxes (yí tào hézi)
of different colors (bù tóng yánsè) and different sizes (bù tóng dàxiǎo). The tall guy picks
up the largest red box and puts the smaller yellow one inside it. Then the shorter guy
picks up the green box and puts it in the yellow one. When they’ve finished putting all
the boxes (suǒyǒu de hézi) back, they stand up, and walk out. That’s it! Nothing else.
________________________________________________________________________
9.8 Verb Combos (3)
The topic of bǎ is, as noted, intimately connected to complex verbs, so this is an
appropriate place to continue the complex verb survey. First a review exercise.
Exercise 5
Fill in the gaps below with one of the listed verb complements (actual or potential – the
latter with inserted bu or de): wán and hǎo ‘finish’, dào and zháo ‘manage to; succeed in’,
bǎo ‘filled’, and cuò ‘in error’.
1. Kèrén yào lái le, nĭ fàn zuò _______ le méiyou?
2. Nĭ zhǎo nĕi wèi? / Duìbuqĭ, wŏ yĕxŭ dǎ _______ le.
3. Tā shuō de huà nĭ tĭng _______ ma?
4. Téng lăoshī zài chuānghu wàitou, nĭ méi kàn _______ tā ma?
5. Nèi bĕn shū tài cháng le, wŏ kàn _______ .
6. Wŏ xiǎngdào kăoshì de shìqíng jiu shuì _______ jiào!
7. Tā xiǎng zuò de shì yĭjing zuò _____ le.
8. Wŏ de zìdiǎn zhǎo _______! Nĭ kàn ______ le ma? Méiyou zìdiăn bù néng zuò jīntiān
de gōngkè!
9. Bié kèqi, duō chī yìdiănr cài! / Ài, wŏ chī _____ le, bù néng zài chī le!
10. Jīntiān hĕn mēn, kàn ______ tàiyáng!
________________________________________________________________________
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9.8.1 Position of objects
As noted earlier, bǎ is associated with manipulation or other kinds of actions that affect
the position or integrity of objects:
Tā bǎ bǐ náqǐlai le.
Tā bǎ huà náxiàlai le.
She picked up the pen.
He lifted the painting down.
However, an indefinite object (one that is new to the discourse – and in English typically
preceded by an ‘indefinite article’ such as ‘a~an’ or ‘some’) often appears after the verb
combination. Lái and qù, whose function is to indicate direction towards or away from
the speaker, are often – but not always – postponed until after the object.
Tā náqǐ bǐ lai le.
She picked up a pen.
Wǒ xiǎngbuqǐ tā de míngzi [lai] le.
I can’t remember his name.
9.8.2 More verb complements
a) Zhù, which as a verb means ‘live’, combines with verbs such as jì ‘note’, ná ‘hold’,
and tíng ‘stop’ to convey permanence:
Tā de diànhuà hàomǎ wǒ lǎo
jìbuzhù!
I can never remember his phone number.
Tā hěn cōngmíng, nǐ wènbuzhù tā!
He’s smart, you won’t stump him!
Názhù le ma?
Got it?
Wǒ nábuzhù!
I can’t hold it!
Jiēzhù! / Jiēzhù le!
Catch it! / Got it!
Zhànzhù, bú yào dòng! Jǔqǐ shǒu lai! Stay still, don’t move. Put your hands up!
Notes
a) Wènbuzhù, literally ‘ask-not-stick’; or wènbudǎo ‘ask-not-collapse’.
b) Jiē ‘join’, as in Xièxie nǐmen lái jiē wǒmen.
c) Dòng ‘move’, yùndòng de dòng.
d) Jǔ ‘raise’; cf jǔzhòng ‘lift weights’ or jǔxíng ‘take place. For ‘put your hands
up’, a version with bǎ is also possible: Bǎ shǒu jǔqǐlai!
b) Kāi as a verb complement means ‘open’:
Kāibukāi ~ dǎbukāi chuānghu.
I can’t open the window.
Zǒukāi! Zhèr méiyou nĭ de shìr.
Get lost; this doesn’t concern you.
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Yú líbukāi shuǐ ya, guā líbukāi
yāng; rénmín qúnzhòng líbukāi
gòngchǎndǎng!
Julian K. Wheatley, 4/07
Fish can’t leave the water, melons can’t
leave the vine; the people can’t be separated
from the Communist Party!
c) Shàng and xià, in addition to their literal meanings in the directional complements
xiàlai and shànglai, xiàqu and shàngqu, also form single syllable complements:
Bǎ qiāng fàngxià!
Put the gun down!
Zhèi jiān jiàoshì zuòbuxià
sānshí ge rén.
This classroom won’t seat 30.
Zuòxià ba.
Why don’t you sit down.
Wǒ wàng-le dàishàng biǎo.
I forgot to put my watch on.
Tā pà tā kǎobushàng dàxué.
He’s afraid he won’t pass the university
entrance exam.
Tā zhēn kě’ài; wŏ yĭjing àishàng
tā le!
She’s so cute; I’ve already fallen in love
with her!
Xiāngzi tài xiăo le, fàngbuxià
dōngxi.
This case’s too small; I can’t get the
things in.
d) Zǒu ‘leave’ appears as a complement meaning ‘away’:
Tāmen yǐjing bānzǒu le.
They’ve already moved away [from here].
Shéi bǎ wǒ de yàoshi názǒu le?
Who’s gone off with my keys?
Dōngtiān lái le, niǎo dōu fēizǒu le.
Méi guānxi, niǎo shi sìhài zhīyī,
zǒu jiu zǒu ba.
Winter’s here, and the birds have all flown.
Never mind, birds are one of the 4 pests, [if]
they’ve gone, they’ve gone.
9.8.3 Specialized forms
a) A number of complements appear only in the potential form. Qĭ – qĭlái de qĭ – is one.
As a complement, it shows a considerable shift in meaning to ‘worthy of’ or ‘afford to’:
Duìbùqĭ.
Sorry. (‘face-not-worthy’)
Aiya, xiànzài Bĕijīng de shēnghuó
fèiyong tài gāo le, wŏ kě zhùbuqĭ!
Gosh the cost of living in Beijing is
too high – I can’t afford to live here.
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Yànwō, yúchì zhèi lèi de dōngxi
tài guì le; wŏ chībuqĭ!
Julian K. Wheatley, 4/07
Things like birds nest soup and shark fin
are too expensive; I can’t afford to eat them.
b) It is also possible to choose to use the potential framework but not to commit to a
particular complement. In such case, a default complement, liǎo (written with the same
character as le, 了) is available. Unlike most of the other verb complements, it combines
with almost any action verb. It usually suggests ‘more than one can be expected to do’:
Dōngxi tài duō le, wŏ yí ge rén
zĕnme nádeliǎo ne?
Wŏ lái bāng nĭ ná ba.
[I have] too many things; how can I carry
them all by myself?
Let me help you.
Zhème duō cài, wŏ yí ge rén
zĕnme chīdeliǎo ne?
Such a lot of dishes, how can I eat them
all by myself?
Chàbuliǎo duōshao.
There’s hardly any difference; [they’]re
more or less the same. (‘lack-not-able
much’)
Chē tài duō le, wŏmen wŭ diǎn
dàobuliǎo.
Dǎ ge diànhuà gàosu tāmen,
hăo bu hăo.
Too many cars, we won’t be able to
make it by 5.
Phone them and let them know, okay?
c) Semantic extensions
Verb complements, particularly the directional ones, often have extended meanings. Qǐlái,
for example, which as a directional complement means ‘up [here]’ (eg zhànqǐlai), also
functions much more abstractly, in the sense of ‘when it comes to [doing]’:
Zhèi jiàn shì shuōqǐlai róngyì,
zuòqǐlai nán.
This is easy to talk about, but tough to do.
Zhèi tiáo lù, kànqǐlai hĕn jìn,
zǒuqǐlai hĕn yuăn.
This route looks short, but when you walk it,
it’s quite far.
Shàoxīnghuà tīngqǐlai hěn xiàng
Shànghǎihuà.
Shaoxing dialect sounds like Shanghainese.
[‘when you come to listen to it…]’
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Exercise 6
Do[or write what you would say for] the following in Chinese. If the comment is not
about yourself, you should address the ‘him’, ‘her’, or ‘them’ as indicated:
1. Ask him to come down and take a look.
2. Ask him to bring the books in.
3. Ask them when they are moving in.
4. Ask her to bring the books up here.
5. Ask her to come out and take a look at the view.
6. Ask her to drive the car over and pick the students up.
7. Say that someone seems to have taken your bookbag by mistake.
8. Explain that you can’t affort to eat seafood – because it’s so expensive.
9. Explain that your car won’t seat 7 – suggest taking 2 cars.
10. Explain that you’re full, and can’t eat any more.
11. Explain that you can’t remember his name.
12. Explain that you can’t open the door – it’s locked.
_____________________________________________________________________
9.9 Peking Duck
Preparing Peking duck, a conversation done in the style of a xiàngshēng ‘cross talk’
comedy routine. Jiǎ is the joker, yĭ is the straightman:
Jiǎ. Nĭ huì zuò Bĕijīng kǎoyā ma?
Can you cook Peking duck?
Yĭ Bú huì de!
Nope!
Jiǎ. Tài hăo le. Wŏ jiāo nĭ. Xiān zhǎo
yì zhī yāzi lái.
Great; I’ll teach you. First, find a duck.
Yĭ Zhăobudào ~ zhǎobuzháo.
I won’t be able to.
Jiǎ. Nà, nĭ qù mǎi yì zhī ba!
In that case, go and buy one, okay?
Yĭ Mǎibuqǐ.
I can’t afford to.
Jiǎ. Nà, wŏ sòng (gĕi) nĭ yì zhī ba.
Okay then, I’ll give you one.
Yĭ Duōxiè.
Thanks.
Jiǎ. Nà, nĭ xiān bǎ yāzi xǐgānjìng!
Well, first clean the duck!
Yĭ Hăo, xĭ yāzi.
Okay, clean duck.
Jiǎ. Ránhòu bǎ cōng jiāng fàngjìn
yā dùzi lĭ qu.
Afterwards put the scallions and ginger in its
stomach.
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Yĭ Hăo, fàng cōng jiāng.
Julian K. Wheatley, 4/07
Okay, put in scallions and ginger.
Jiǎ. Xiànzài bǎ yāzi fàngjìn kǎoxiāng lĭ qu. Now put the duck in the oven.
Yĭ Hăo, kǎo yāzi.
Okay, roast the duck.
Jiǎ. Xiǎoxīn, bié kǎohú le.
Careful, don’t burn it.
Yĭ Fàngxīn, kăoshì kǎodehú,
kǎoyā, kǎobuhú.
Don’t worry, I only ‘burn out’ on exams,
I don’t burn ducks.
Notes
a) Xiàngshēng ‘cross talk’, a popular style of comedy that involves a lot of
language play; usually involving two people, one of whom plays straight to the
wit of the other.
b) Sòng ‘to present; escort’; sòng, like gĕi, can take both person and thing as
objects. More often, however, it is followed by gĕi: sòng gĕi; cf. mài gěi ‘sell to
s/o’ (but with mài, gĕi is not optional).
c) Xiān, Adv ‘first’.
d) Xiǎoxīn ‘careful (small-heart)’; cf. fàngxīn ‘take care (put-heart)’.
e) The routine ends in a play on kǎo ‘to test’ and kǎo ‘to bake’; hú is a SV
meaning ‘to burn [food]’, but in slang, it also means ‘to fail an exam’.
9.10 Stand a little closer
Not all verb combinations are of the same type. One fairly productive pattern combines
an action verb with a SV formed in the comparative with yìdiănr:
Shuō kuài yìdiănr.
Zhàn jìn yìdiănr.
Xiě dà yìdiănr.
Zǒu màn yìdiănr.
Speak a bit faster.
Stand a little closer.
Write it a bit bigger.
Walk a bit more slowly.
Qǐng bǎ chuānghu dăkāi.
Open the window, please.
Chuānghu kāizhe ne.
The window’s open.
Nà, bǎ tā kāi dà yìdiănr.
Then, open it a bit wider.
Usage
1.
2.
Zŏu kuài yìdiănr, hăo bu hăo, Walk faster, okay, the train leaves
huŏchē wŭ diǎn zhōng kāi. at 5.
Fàngxīn ba, láidejí!
Don’t worry – we’ll make it.
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3.
Kāi màn yìdiănr, hăo bu
hăo, ānquán dì-yī.
Julian K. Wheatley, 4/07
Drive more slowly, okay, safety first!
Kuài yìdiǎnr and màn yìdiǎnr may also stand alone in an hortatory function, urging speed
or advising care:
Kuài yìdiănr, xiàyŭ le.
Hurry, it’s raining.
Màn yìdiănr, lù hĕn huá.
Slow down, the road’s slippery.
9.10.1 Getting home
A group of foreigners on a dusty trail near Xuěsōngcūn, a village inhabited by Naxi
people, about 25 kms north of Lijiang in northwest Yunnan. A pickup truck appears; they
signal to it and inquire:
Jiǎ:
Qù chéng lǐ yào jǐ kuài?
How much to go into town?
Yǐ:
Qù nǎlǐ? Lìjiāng ma?
Where are you going? Lijiang?
Jiǎ:
Shì, Lìjiāng.
Yes, Lijiang.
Yǐ:
Èrshí kuài.
20 yuan.
Jiǎ:
Sān ge rén yìqǐ èrshí kuài ma?
20 for the 3 of us all together?
Yǐ:
Shì.
Yes.
Jiǎ:
Wǒmen zuò hòumiàn ma?
Do we sit in the back?
Yǐ:
Yí ge rén zài qiánmiàn yě kěyǐ.
One in the front is okay too.
Jiǎ:
Hǎo, wò zuò qiánmiàn.
Okay, I’ll sit in the front.
Yǐ:
Fúzhù; zuòwěn.
Hold on; sit tight!
Jiǎ:
Shīfu, kāi màn yìdiǎnr, hǎo bu hǎo; Driver, drive slowly, okay?
ānquán dì-yī!
Safety first!
Yǐ:
Fàngxīn ba!
Don’t worry!
…………………….
Jia.
Hǎo, sījī, wǒmen zài zhèr xiàchē,
hǎo bu hǎo.
Okay, driver, we’ll get off here, okay?
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Yǐ:
Hǎo, zài dàmén duìmiàn, xíng ma? Okay, opposite the gate, right?
Jia.
Hǎo, suíbiàn, nǎlǐ fāngbiàn, nǎlǐ xià. Fine, anywhere, wherever it’s convenient.
Zhè shi èrshíwǔ kuài -- duō gěi nǐ Here’s 25 – [we]’re giving you an extra
wǔ kuài ba.
5, okay?
Yǐ:
Hǎo, màn zǒu!
Okay, take it easy!
Notes
a) The Naxi homeland is in Northwestern Yunnan, in and around Lijiang. The
Nàxīzú (also know as the Moso), speak a Tibeto-Burman language, only very
distantly related to Chinese, with its own pictographic script. In China, the Naxi
are known for their traditional music.
b) fúzhù: fú ‘to support with the hand’ plus the verb complement zhù ‘stay’; hold
on. Zuòwěn ‘sit’ plus the rarer complement wěn ‘be stable’, ie ‘sit securely’.
c) ānquán ‘safety’; cf. ānjìng ‘peaceful’. Ānquán dì-yī is a slogan that is often
seen at construction sites in China.
d) fàngxīn ‘put-heart’, ie ‘be at ease’.
e) sījī ‘driver’; also a term of address for drivers, eg sījī xiānsheng ‘Mr. driver’.
f) suíbiàn: ‘as you like (follow-inclination)’.
g) fāngbiàn ‘convenient’. The construction here is parallel to: Xiǎng chī shénme
jiu chī shénme ‘Eat whatever you want’. In each case, there are two question
words, the second one referencing the first.
Lí Lìjiāng bù yuǎn de yí ge lùtiān (‘open air’) shìchǎng (‘market’). [JKW 205]
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Exercise 7.
Provide paraphrases:
1. Hurry up, it’s almost time for class.
2. Stand a bit closer, otherwise you won’t be able to see.
3. I like it sweet – could you add some sugar please.
4. Would you mind (máfan nǐ ‘touble you to’) speaking a bit louder (dàshēng); I can’t
hear.
5. Write it bigger, please, so I can count (shǔ) the strokes (bǐhuà).
_______________________________________________________________________
9.11 Destination and goal: VERB + dào, zài or gěi
There is a distinction to be made between combinations that consist, on the one hand, of a
main verb and a complement verb (zuòwán, zhǔnbèihǎo) or compound complement
(náchūqu, zhànqǐlai) and, on the other hand, combinations that consist of a main verb and
a complement phrase (bān dào xiāngxià qu, wàng zài jiā lǐ). The former elaborates the
verbal event in terms of its completion, success or direction, but in other respects, the
product remains a verb and can end a sentence or be modified by le: Yǐjing kànwán le. It
can also be made potential: zuòbuwán; nádechūlai. Since the combination remains a
unitary verb, it is written without a space.
The addition of dào, zài or gěi (all often untoned) to a verb is quite a different
matter. It requires a goal to be expressed: a location in the case of the first two (kāi dào
ménkǒur; fàng zài wàitou), a person in the case of the third (sòng gěi péngyou). The
resulting combinations (kāi dào, fàng zài, sòng gěi, etc.) do not act like unitary verbs.
They cannot stand alone; they cannot be further modified by verb-le (though sentence-le
may appear at the foot of the sentence); and they do not permit the insertion of de or bu to
form the potential. For this reason, they are written with a space between.
Another feature of the three verbs, dào, zài and gěi, is that they not only follow
main verbs to introduce various ‘goals’, but each can also appear, as it turns out, before
their associated verbs as coverbs. The options are as follows:
Before the verb, as CVs:
Míngtiān nĭ dăsuàn dào nǎlǐ qu?
Where do you plan on going tomorrow?
Wŏ gĕi nĭ qù zhǎo tā.
I’ll go find her for you.
Wŏ fùqin zài Huádōng Yīyuàn
dāng yīsheng.
My father works at Huadong Hospital
as a doctor.
After the verb, as part of phrase complements:
Tāmen bān dào Pǔdōng qu le.
They’ve moved to Pudong.
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Bǎ xuēzi fàng zài wàitou, hăo ma?
Put [your] boots outside, okay?
Nĭ de diànnăo mài gĕi shéi le?
Who’d you sell your computer to?
It is worthwhile reviewing the criteria which condition these options. Each verb is
discussed separately below:
a) Dào.
With destinations expressed, dào may precede the general verbs of motion, lái and qù:
dào Běijing lai; bú dào Shànghǎi qu. However, láidào, and occasionally qùdào, without
destinations, may also occur with the meanings ‘arrive; get to [here]’ and ‘arrive; get to
[there]’:
Tāmen shi zuótiān wănshàng
They arrived [here] in Beijing last
láidào Bĕijīng de.
night.
Yĕxŭ míngtiān xiàwŭ qùdào
Shànghăi.
[They’]re probably arriving in Shanghai
[there] tomorrow afternoon.
With verbs of motion other than lái or qù (bān move; zǒu walk; pǎo run; huí
return; ná carry; káng lug; jì ‘mail’, kāi drive, etc.), dào follows the main verb and
introduces the place towards which the motion is directed:
1.
Wŏmen zuótiān hĕn wăn cái huí dào
sùshè <lai>. Jìnbuqù, mén dōu
suǒshàng le, ménwèi hái děi ràng
wŏmen jìnlai.
Yesterday we didn’t get back to the dorm
till late. [We] couldn’t get in, the doors were
all locked, [so] the entrance guard had to let
us in.
2.
Qǐng bāng wŏ bǎ zhèi jǐ ge xiāngzi
káng dào chēzi lĭ qu.
Can you help me lug these trunks into the
car?
3.
Zhèi fēng xìn yào jì dào Xīnjiāpō.
I want to send this letter to Singapore.
Hángkōng ma?
Airmail?
Shì.
Yes.
Yào guàhào ma?
You want to register it?
Bù.
No.
Liù kuài wǔ.
¥6.50.
Chāo yìdiănr zhòng ma?
Is it a little overweight?
Shì.
Yes.
Hăo, jiù zhèi yàngr ba.
That’s it then.
Màn zǒu.
Take it easy.
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Bǎ xìn fàngzai xìntǒng lǐ! (Shànghǎi 2006)
4.
Cóng zhèr zŏu dào Yán’ān Lù
yĕxŭ děi yí ge bàn xiăoshí.
Xiāndāng yuăn!
It would probably take an hour and a
half to walk from here to Yan’an Road.
It’s rather far!
Kě bu kěyǐ zuò gōnggòng qìchē?
Can one go by bus?
Kĕyĭ zuò113 lù chē; zài
huŏchēzhàn shàng.
You can take the number 113 bus; board at
the train station.
Notes
ménwèi
xiāngzi
káng
hángkōng
113 lù
guàhào
chāozhòng
N
N
V
N
N
VO
VO
entrance guard
trunck; case
to lift a relatively heavy weight; to lug
short for hángkōng yóujiàn ‘airmail’
road; route; 113 hào in Taiwan
send by registered mail
to exceed a weight limit; be overweight [for mail, suitcases].
The pattern also applies to more metaphorical destinations, of the sort found with verbs
such as xué ‘study’, děng ‘wait’, or kàn ‘read’:
5.
6.
Nĭmen xué dào dì-jǐ kè?
Which lesson are you on now?
Dì-bā kè gāng xuéwán, xiànzài
zài xué dì-jiŭ kè.
We just finished lesson 8, now we’re
on lesson 9.
Wŏ dĕng tā dĕng dào qī diǎn duō
zhōng, dànshì tā méi lái.
I waited for her until after 7, but she
didn’t show up.
Tā kěnéng gǎocuò shíjiān le.
She might have got the time wrong.
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As noted in Unit 8, dào can also function as the second element in a verb combo,
rather like wán. In such cases, there is no destination, and like other verb combos, the
verbs are written as a unit, without a space:
Shuōdào, zuòdào.
Saying is doing.
Mǎibudào.
It can’t be bought [here].
b) Zài
With zài, there are actually three options. The location can be indicated by zài before the
verb (functioning as a CV):
Tāmen zǎochén zài gōngyuán
dǎ yí ge zhōngtou de tàijíquán.
Zǎochén, kōngqì bǐjiǎo hǎo!
They do an hour’s taiji in the park in
the morning.
In the morning, the air’s better!
2008 nián de Àoyùnhuì zài
Bĕijīng jǔxíng!
Nĭ kĕyĭ zài nàr zhǎo gōngzuò,
dāng fānyì.
The 2008 Games are being held in Beijing!
You can get a job there as a translator.
However, in cases where the location can be interpreted as a place where
something or someone ends up, then the zai-phrase usually follows the verb:
1.
Zuò zài zhèr ba.
Méi guānxi, zhàn-zhe hăo.
Sit here.
It’s okay, I’m fine standing.
2.
Xià yì bān chē zăoshàng 7:30 cái
zǒu, wŏmen shuì zài chēzhàn, hăo
bu hăo?
The next bus isn’t until 7:30 in the
morning; why don’t we sleep in the
bus station?
Shuì zài chēzhàn, zài Zhōngguó
bù xíng, yèlĭ bǎ mén suǒshàng. Zhèr
fùjin yīnggāi yǒu ge zhāodàisuǒ
wŏmen kĕyĭ zhù.
In China, you can’t sleep in the station;
at night they lock the doors. There ought to
to be a guest house round here where we
could stay.
3.
Xíngli fàng zài xínglijià shàng, hăo Put your luggage in the luggage rack, okay?
bu hăo?
Hăo, xiǎoxīn ba, bù néng yā.
Fine; be careful, it’s fragile. (‘not press’)
Finally, with a number of verbs, the location can be placed before (in ‘coverb’
position) or after (as a locative complement), with only slight nuance of difference. The
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best known examples are shēng ‘be born’, zhǎng ‘be raised’ and zhù ‘live’:
Wǒ shēng zài Bèilǔtè, zhǎng zài Kāiluó, kěshi xiànzài zhù zài Luómǎ.
Wǒ shi zài Bèilǔtè shēng de, zài Kāiluó zhǎngdà de, xiànzài zài Luómǎ zhù.
But the option is also available to other verbs. Xiĕ ‘write’ illustrates the general
distinction of destination ‘where it ends up’ versus location ‘where it takes place’:
dest’n Bǎ míngzi xiĕ zài biăo shàng de
dì-yī háng.
Write your name on the first line of
the form.
loc’n Zài túshūguăn xiĕxìn shūfu yìdiănr, It’s more comfortable writing letters in the
yǒu kōngtiáo.
library; it’s airconditioned.
c) Gěi.
i. As a full verb
Gěi is one of a relatively small number of transactional verbs in Chinese, such as jiāo
‘teach’, tuō ‘entrust’, and sòng ‘present’, that allow two objects to be expressed – the
recipient and the item ‘transacted’:
V-person-thing
gěi tāmen ge jìniànpǐn
jiāo tā Zhōngwén
tuō nĭ yíjiàn shì
sòng tā yí ge lǐwù
Examples
1.
Wŏ zài jiāo háizimen Zhōngwén.
2.
3.
give them a souvenir
teach him Chinese
entrust you [with] something
present her with a gift
I’m teaching the children Chinese.
O, nĭ yòng shénme jiàocái?
Oh, what teaching materials are you using?
Yòng wŏ zìjĭ xiĕ de dōngxi.
I’m using ones that I wrote myself.
O, zìjĭ xiĕ de, zhēn liăobuqĭ!
Gosh, ones you wrote yourself – amazing!
Tuō nĭ yí jiàn shì.
[I’d like to] ask you a favor.
E, méi guānxi, shuō ba!
Hey, no problem, ask!
Tā míngtiān yào zŏu. Wŏmen
yīnggāi sòng tā yí ge jìniànpǐn.
She’s leaving tomorrow. We should
present her with a souvenir.
How about inviting her out for a meal?
Qǐng tā chūqu chī yí dùn fàn,
hăo bu hăo? Mǎi dōngxi gĕi rén tài It’s so difficult buying things for people.
bù róngyì!
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ii. Following a verb: V-gei
Transactional verbs other than gěi itself require the mediation of gěi before the person.
For example, while English says ‘sell him a car’, Chinese has to say ‘sell-give him a car’.
Some of these verbs are listed here:
mài gěi
jiè gěi
sell to
lend to send to
jì gěi
huán gěi
return to
bǎ chē mài gĕi tā
bǎ xìn jì gĕi tā
bǎ shū huán gĕi tā
bǎ shū jiè gĕi tā
bǎ gōngkè jiāo gĕi lăoshī
sòng gĕi tā yí jiàn chènshān
bǎ shŏujī ná gĕi tā
Usage
4.
Wŏ yĭqián jiè gĕi tā yìbăi kuài
qián, tā hái méi huán gĕi
wŏ ne.
5.
jiāo gěi
sòng <gěi>
ná gěi
dài gěi
hand over to
deliver to
take to
bring to
sell him a car
mail her a letter
give the book back to him
lend books to her
hand the homework in to the teacher
give him a shirt
bring the cellphone to her
I lent him $100 earlier; he hasn’t
returned it to me yet.
Wŏ kĕyĭ tíxǐng tā, tā kĕnéng
wàng le.
I’ll remind him – he might have forgotten.
Nĭmen xiān bǎ zuòyè jiāo gĕi wŏ.
First hand in your homework [to me].
Lăoshī, wŏ méi dàilai, míngtiān zài Sir, I didn’t bring it, can I hand it in
jiāo, xíng bu xíng?
tomorrow?
Hăo, míngtiān jiāo gĕi wŏ.
Okay, give it to me tomorrow.
iii. Before the verb (as a coverb): gěi…V
Used before the verb, as a ‘coverb’, gěi introduces the person who benefits from the
action:
gěi nǐ jièshao jièshao tā
gěi nǐ mǎi cài
gěi nǐ dǎ ge diànhuà
gěi nǐ xiěxìn
introduce her for [the benefit of] you
buy some food for [the benefit of] you
make a phone-call for [the benefit of] you
write a letter for [the benefit of] you
iv. After a verb with its object: VO gěi tā
Gěi sometimes appears as as second verb after the main verb + object to introduce the
recipient
V
O
V O
dǎ ge diànhuà gěi nǐ
xiě
xìn
gěi nǐ
mǎi ge túzhāng gěi tā
make a phone call to you
write a letter to you
buy a seal to give to him
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Function iv (VO gěi tā) is more or less synonymous with function iii (gěi…V):
as the 2nd verb in a series
as coverb
gěi nǐ dǎ ge diànhuà
gěi nǐ xiěxìn
~
~
dǎ ge diànhuà gěi nǐ
xiěxìn gěi nǐ
Exercise 8.
Provide Chinese paraphrases:
1. Can you help me take these books up to the 4th floor?
2. Who’s the letter to? / It’s to my parents.
3. Phone me before you leave, okay?
4. I waited until 10 pm before leaving.
5. Put your boots outside please.
6. I shop for her and she cooks for me.
7. Let’s give him a stone seal.
8. I lent him my Mongolian hat, and he still hasn’t returned it!
9. Write your name on the back of the envelope (xìnfēng).
10. Let’s buy him a padded jacket (mián’ǎo).
11. Who’d you sell your car to?
_____________________________________________________________________
9.12 Wáng Xuéyīng
Wáng Xuéyīng shi Lín Měi de hǎo péngyou. Tā shēng zài Nánjīng, kěshi yīnwèi tā fùmǔ
shi Shàoxīng rén suǒyǐ Zhōngguó rén yě shuō Shàoxīng shi tā de lǎojiā. Shàoxīng zài
nǎr? Shàoxīng zài Zhèjiāng, lí Hángzhōu hěn jìn, lí Shànghǎi yě bù yuǎn. Shàoxīnghuà
tīngqǐlai hěn xiàng Shànghǎihuà. Shàoxīng zuì yǒumíng de tèchǎn shi Shàoxīngjiǔ, nà shi
yì zhǒng mǐjiǔ. Hē-guo de rén dōu shuō Shàoxīng jǐu hēqǐlai hěn tián.
Wáng Xuéyīng yīnwèi shēng zài Nánjīng, suǒyǐ yě kěyǐ shuō shi Nánjīng rén. Nánjīng
zài Jiāngsū, zài Cháng Jiāng biān shàng. Nánjīng nèi ge chéngshì bú dà yě bù xiǎo, bǐjiào
ānjìng. Rénkǒu dàgài shi sān-sìbǎiwàn. Nǐ kěnéng xiǎng zhīdao Nánjīng wèishénme jiào
‘Nánjīng’? Shi zhèi yàng de: ‘Jīng’ shì shǒudū de yìsi. Nánjīng shì nánbiānr de shǒudū.
Xiànzài de shǒudū shi Běijīng, kěshì yǐqián Nánjīng yě zùo-guo shǒudū. Suǒyǐ Nánjīng
fùjìn de gǔjī hěn duō! Nǐ yīnggāi qù kànkan, hěn yǒu yìsi!
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Wáng Xuéyīng, xiàng Lín Měi yíyàng, yě jiāoshū. Tā jiāo Zhōngguó wénxué, Zhōngguó
xiàndài wénxué. Nǐ xiǎng liǎojiě Zhōngguó zuì yǒumíng de xiàndài zuòjiā, nà nǐ kěyǐ
qǐngjiào tā. Tā duì Lǔ Xùn, Lǎo Shě, Dīng Líng, Shěn Cóngwén, děngděng nèi xiē
yǒumíng de xiàndài zuòjiā dōu hěn yǒu yánjiū!
Wáng Xuéyīng 1986 nián céng zài Yīngguó líu-guo xué, tā Yīngwén jiǎng+de hěn hǎo.
Tīng, shuō, dú, xiě dōu xíng. Tā yě zhīdao yìdiǎnr guānyú Měiguó hé Ōuzhōu de shìqing.
Tā shuō tā shi Zhōngguó rén, dāngrán zuì xǐhuān chī Zhōngguó cài, kěshì tā yě xǐhuan
chī wàiguó cài, xiàng Fǎguó de, Yìdàlì de, Měiguó de. Měiguó de kuàicān tā yě xǐhuan,
xiàng hànbǎobāo, règǒu, pǐsābǐng! Tā shuō tā zhīdao kuàicān duì shēntǐ bù hǎo, kěshì
yīnwèi hěn hǎochī, tā háishi hěn xǐhuan chī. Tā de kànfǎ shi xiǎng chī shénme jiu chī
shénme, zhǐ yào nǐ bù chī tài duō. Nǐ juéde tā zhèiyàng shuō yǒu dàolǐ ma?
Notes
lǎojiā (or gùxiāng)
tèchǎn
tián
Cháng Jiāng
kěnéng
shǒudū
zuò-guo
gǔjī
liǎojiě
xiàndài
zuòjiā
qǐngjiào
duì … yǒu yánjiū
liúxué
guānyú
zhǐ yào
yǒu dàolǐ
‘home of origin’; in the Chinese view you are from the place that
your ancestors came from.
N ‘local specialties (special-product)’; cf. tèsè, tèbié.
SV ‘sweet’ but here, ‘smooth’.
(‘long river’), the Yangtze River.
Adv ‘possibly; probably; maybe’; cf dàgài, yěxǔ
N ‘capital city’ of a country; provincial capital is shǒufǔ.
‘has done’ in the sense of ‘has taken the part of; has been’.
‘(ancient-remains)’
V ‘get acquainted with; understand’
SV ‘modern; current’
N ‘author (do/write-expert)’
‘(request-instruction)’, used deferentially to ask for instruction
from a superior; note the falling tone of jiào; cf. jiàoshòu.
‘to be well informed about (to have knowledge of …)’.
VO or V ‘to study abroad (remain-study)’. Notice the position of
guo: liú-guó xué ‘have [at some time] studied abroad’. Some
people treat liúxué as a compound verb and place the guo after
xué: liúxué-guo yì nián.
‘about; concerning’, here introducing the object shìqing ‘things’.
Literally ‘only want’, but the corresponding English expression is
‘as long as; provided that’: Zhǐ yào duì shēntǐ hǎo, wǒ kěyǐ chī. ‘So
long as it’s good for me, I can eat [it]’.
SV ‘make sense; be rational; right’; the negative is méi<you>
dàolǐ.
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Exercise 9.
Answer the following questions about the story:
1. Qǐng nǐ tántan lǎojiā shi shénme yìsi.
2. Shàoxīngrén shuō de huà zěnmeyàng?
3. Shàoxīng zuì yǒumíng de chǎnpǐn shi shénme? Wèidao zěnmeyàng?
4. Nánjīng rénkǒu dàgài shi duōshao?
5. Nánjīng wèishénme jiào Nánjīng?
6. Hái yǒu shénme chéngshì yě zuò-guo shǒudū?
7. Wáng Xuéyīng duì shénme hěn yǒu yánjiū?
8. Xiǎng liǎojiě Zhōngguó yǒumíng de zuòjiā kěyǐ qǐngjiào shéi?
9. Wáng Xuéyīng Yīngyǔ jiǎng+de hěn hǎo; wèishénme?
10. Guānyú chī kuàicān nǐ de kànfǎ shì shénme?
9.13 Patterns with duì
Constructions involving the CV duì are reviewed here:
a) Duì … hǎo: ‘good for [your] …’
Yǒu rén shuō niúnăi duì shēntĭ hăo.
Tīngshuō niúnăi duì pífu hăo; xiāngjiāo duì nǎozi hăo.
b) Duì … yǒu ~ gǎn xìngqu ‘be interested in…’
Duì xià wéiqí gǎn xìngqu ma?
Are [you] interested in playing ‘go’?
Hĕn gǎn xìngqu, dànshi duì xiàngqí [I]’m very interested, but I’m even more
gèng yǒu xìngqu.
interested in chess.
Wŏ cóng xiăo duì huàhuàr
yǒu xìngqu.
I’ve been interested in painting since
I was small.
Tīngshuō Qīngcháo de Kāngxī
huángdì duì tiānwén fēicháng găn
xìngqu.
I heard that Emperor Kangxi of the
Qīng was very interested in astronomy.
Notes
xià wéiqí
xiàngqí
huàhuàr
huángdì
tiānwén<xué> N
VO
N
VO
N
N
play go (‘play’ encircling-chess)
chess (elephant-chess)
to paint; draw (paint-paintings)
emperor
astronomy (heaven-inscriptions)
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c) Duì … yǒu yánjiū ‘be informed about’.
Tā duì Zhōngguó de xiàndài lìshǐ
hěn yǒu yánjiū.
She’s very well informed about
modern Chinese history.
9.14 Interjections
Interjections are conventionalized carriers of emotion, typically providing context for a
following sentence; cf. English: aha (recognition), yikes (surprise and fear), whoopee
(happiness). Interjections sometimes employ sounds outside the regular linguistic system,
such as the English alveolar clicks, conventionally spelled tsk tsk or tut tut (disapproval).
Few textbooks – or grammars of Chinese – have much to say about interjections.
Chao’s grammar (1967) is exceptional in devoting some five pages to the topic.
Interjections are quite frequent in informal speech, and need to be considered. A good
place to look for them in written form is comics and advertisements (though you will
have to conduct a survey of native speakers to see how the interjections are actually
pronounced). Here is an example from the label of a bottle of a popular brand of fruit
drink:
Shuǐjīng Pútao – (嗯) hǎo hē!
’Crystal Grape, -- (ng, mm?), delicious!’
The character 嗯 contains the ‘phonetic element’ 恩 ēn, but the interjection is probably
pronounced mm is this context.
Though they may occur elsewhere, interjections in Chinese are more frequent in
initial position – or rather, prior position; though they often have a fixed intonation, it is
not quite the same as the pitch and contour of the regular tones. The following list is very
tentative; you should add to it or amend it as you observe Chinese speaking.
Ā
Mild interest;
Ā, hěn yǒu yìsi.
Á
Surprise
Á, yòu lái le! ‘What – you again?’
Āi
resignation; darn; alas
Āi, zhēn kěxī.
Āiyā
Impatience; frustration
Āiyō ~ yō
surprise; discomfort; yikes!
E
agreement; Yeh, right on.
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Hà
satisfaction; Ha!
Hài
disapproval
Ng ~ M ~ ùhn (falling)
weak assent; acknowledgement; uh-huh
Ng ~ e
hesitation; cf. English ‘uh’.
O
Oh, I see.
Ó
surprise; huh?
Q<i>
contempt; for shame!
Wèi ~ wài
hello [telephoning; calling out to someone]
Aiyo, Jīn Gāng lái la! 'Yikes, King Kong's coming!' [Advertisement, Shanghai, 2006]
9.15 On apologies
In 2001 a US spy plane, flying near to the coast of China, was involved in a collision with
a Chinese jet that was shadowing it. The Chinese pilot was killed, and the US plane was
badly damaged and had to land on Hainan Island. A poorly planned response from the US
side led the Chinese leaders to demand a formal apology. The Americans were only
willing to express regret. Professor Leo Ou-fan Lee of Harvard wrote a short article on
the issue of the apology that was printed in the Boston Globe. It is reproduced in part
here:
“Two days ago, US Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said the United States was
‘sorry’ for the apparent loss of a Chinese pilot's life following the April 1
collision between a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet, but Powell said the
United States would not apologize for the accident, because it believes it is not at
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fault…. The Chinese language has several words for apology, noted Leo Ou-fan
Lee, a professor of Chinese literature at Harvard University. China is demanding
that the United States give ‘zhèngshì dàoqiàn’, ‘a formal apology’ that
acknowledges that the speaker is extremely sorry for having done something
wrong that harmed the listener. A softer alternative is ‘bàoqiàn’, which means
‘deep and sincere regret’ or to be ‘apologetic’. Bush's expression of ‘regret’ last
week for the loss of the pilot translates as the milder ‘yíhàn’, which implies that
the speaker is not at fault.” [Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, in the Boston Globe, April
11, 2001, page A24]
The side panel to the article listed six degrees of ‘sorry’, with the first as most sorry; the
word-for-word glosses have been added to the original.
dàoqiàn
bàoqiàn
yíhàn
nánguò
duìbuqǐ
bù hǎoyìsi
apologize (declare-deficiency)
feel sorry (embrace-deficiency)
feel regret; be sorry
feel grieved (difficult-pass over)
have failed you (face-not-worthy)
be embarrassed (not good-sense)
Usage
V. Duìbuqǐ, xiàng nín dàoqiàn!
Sorry, I apologize to you.
V. Hěn bàoqiàn!
[I]’m very sorry!
SV. Duì zhèi jiàn shìqing, wǒ
I feel very; especially sorry about this.
juéde hěn/tèbié yíhàn.
SV Hěn nánguò!
[I]’m very sad; upset.
Duìbuqǐ.
Sorry / excuse [me].
SV Bù hǎo yìsi!
[I]’m very sorry; embarrassed.
9.16 Highlights
Definitions
DE
Clothes
Bargaining
V-zhe
Lăoshī shi zài xuéxiào jiāoshū de <rén>.
Tā pángbiānr de nèi wèi shi shéi?
chuántŏng de yīfu; chuān / dài / jì
tǎojià-huánjià; duì wŏ lái shuō
Zhàn-zhe shūfu.
Zài shāfa shàng zuò-zhe ne.
shǒu lĭ ná-zhe yí ge qiáng
Mén kāi-zhe ne.
Zhuōzi shàng fàng-zhe jǐ zhāng míngpiàn.
Tā ná-zhe huàr huíjiā le.
zhèng zài
Tā zhèngzài xǐzǎo ne.
zhèng … zhe Zhèng xià-zhe yǔ ne.
zài V
Tā zài xiĕxìn ne.
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V-zhe
vs zài V
Julian K. Wheatley, 4/07
Tā shuì-zhe ne.
Tā zài shuìjiào ne.
Temples
Colors
Made of
bǎ
VV-O-lai
VVs
V-qĭlai
More slowly
sìmiào; gōngdiàn; shén
Shénme yánsè de chē zuì liúxíng?
Shi shítou zuò de.
Qǐng bǎ mén dăkāi. / Wŏ yĭjing bǎ tā dăkāi le.
náqǐ bǐ lai
jìbuzhù; kāibukāi; bānzǒu; zuòxià; mǎibuqǐ; nábuliăo
Shuōqǐlai róngyì, zuòqǐlai nán.
Qǐng shuō màn yìdiănr.
V-dào/gĕi/zài
Kāi dào nǎr? Jì gĕi shéi?
Fàng zài nǎlǐ?
Verbs in series Mǎi yì bĕn shū gĕi tā zĕnmeyàng?
VOO – but… jiāo tā Zhōngwén; but mài gěi tā yì běn; mǎi yì běn gěi tā
Home
lăojiā; gùxiāng
about
guānyú shénme? / guānyú Mĕiguó xiàndài de lìshĭ
Duì
duì … yǒu xìngqu; duì … yǒu yánjiū
9.17 Rhymes and rhythms
1. Xīnnián láidào
Now another rhyme about the traditional lunar new year:
Xīnnián láidào,
rénrén huānxiào,
gūniáng yào huā(r),
xiǎozi yào pào,
New-year come-arrive,
people happy-laugh,
young+girls want flowers
young+boys want firecrackers
lǎo tàitai yào kuài dà niángāo,
lǎotóur yào dǐng xīn zhān mào!
old ladies want piece New Year’s cake
old men want [M] new felt hat!
The nián of niángāo can mean ‘sticky’ (characterizing the glutinous rice flour used to
make the new year cake) or ‘year’, that is the lunar new year – the time of its eating.
Fireworks in general are usually called yànhuǒ or huāhuǒ (flower-fire); firecrackers
(which come in braided strings, like whips or lashes, and explode like burning bamboo)
are biānpào (lash-cannon) or bàozhú (explode-bamboo); the verb is fàng ‘put’, but here,
‘set off’.
2. Advice for healthy living
Qǐ+de zǎo,
Rise+DE early
shuì+de hǎo,
sleep+DE well,
qī fēn bǎo,
7 parts full [70%]
cháng pǎopǎo;
frequently run,
duō xiàoxiào,
a lot laugh
mò fánnǎo,
don’t worry,
tiāntiān máng,
every-day be-busy
yǒng bù lǎo.
forever not age
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Rì xíng wǔqiān bù,
day walk 5000 paces
>
Julian K. Wheatley, 4/07
yè mián qī xiǎoshí,
night sleep 7 hours
yǐnshí bù yú liàng
>
drink-food not exceed amount
zuò xī yào jūnhéng
do rest need proper-amount
xīn zhōng cháng xǐlè
heart in always happy
>
kǒutóu wú yuàn shēng
in-words not complain tone
ài rén rú ài jǐ
love others as love self
>
zhù rén jìn zhōngchéng.
help people utmost sincerely.
etc.
An excerpt from a longer rhyme containing advice for healthy living, distributed on
sheets of paper at a Chinese temple in Rangoon (Burma). The rhyme seems to have been
inspired by a genre represented best by the ‘Household Maxims’ (Zhìjiā Géyán) of Zhū
Yòngchún (traditionally romanized as Chu Yongshun [sic]), 1617 – 1689, that are often
found in editions of the Chinese almanac. The latter, written in classical style, has a less
perky rhythm. It starts off:
Límíng jí qǐ,
Dawn then rise,
Sǎsǎo tíngchú
sprinkle-sweep outer-porch
yào nèi wài zhěngqí. make inside-and-outside neat.
Jí hūn biàn xī,
guānsuǒ mén hù,
bì qīnzì jiǎndiǎn.
When evening [comes] then rest,
close-and-lock doors,
must oneself check-carefully.
Healthy living, Shanghai subway. [JKW 2005]
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3. 东方红 Dōngfāng Hóng
The East is Red is a paen to Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party, put to the
melody of a Shaanxi folksong. Despite its content, the song remains well known, and
symphonic, choral and heavy metal rock versions can be found on the web.
Lyrics (cí 词) by Lǐ Yǒuyuán (李有源); tune (biānqū 编曲) by Huàn Zhī (焕之).
1.
东方红 太阳升,
Dōngfāng hóng, tàiyang shēng,
A fairly literal translation:
The East is Red, the sun rises,
中国出了个毛泽东;
Zhōngguó chū-liǎo [yí] ge Máo Zédōng;
China appears LE a Mao Zedong;
[liǎo = reading pronunciation]
他为人民谋幸福,
tā wèi rénmín mǒu xìngfú,
he for the-people work-for happiness,
忽儿嘿呦,
hū ér hēi yōu,
<refrain>
他是人民大救星.
tā shì rénmín dà jiùxīng.
he is the-people’s savior (big saving-star).
2.
毛主席爱人民,
Máo zhǔxí ài rénmín,
Chairman Mao loves the people,
他是我们的带路人;
tā shi wǒmen de dàilùrén;
he is our guide (guide-road-person);
为了建设新中国,
wèiliǎo jiànshè xīn Zhōngguó,
in-order-to establish new China,
忽儿嘿呦,
hū ér hēi yōu,
<refrain>
领导我们向前进.
língdǎo wǒmen xiàng qiánjìn.
lead us to advance (forward-enter).
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3.
共产党像太阳,
Gòngchǎndǎng xiàng tàiyang,
The-Communist-Party is like the sun,
照到哪里哪里亮;
zhàodao nǎlǐ, nǎlǐ liàng;
where it shines, there is brightness;
哪里有了共产党 ,
nǎlǐ yǒu liǎo gòngchǎndǎng
wherever there-is LE a CCP,
忽儿嘿呦,
hū ér hēi yōu,
<refrain>
哪里人民得解放.
nǎlǐ rénmín dé jiěfàng!
there the-people obtain liberation!
Monument to the Communist Party in front of an apartment block, Shanghai. [JKW 2006]
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